Tuesday, July 01, 2008

KABUL: Taliban militants have burned down four ice cream parlours in a province bordering the capital Kabul, a security guard said. The militants, who attacked the parlours in the Kulanger district of Logar on Monday, also set fire to DVDs, CDs and televisions used to entertain ice-cream buyers while they eat.

Security guard Mohammad Alem said: "At about 1am 10 masked Talibs came into the market and asked me to show them where the ice-cream shops were. I was scared so I showed them."The masked men broke down the parlour doors, took out the televisions and set fire to them behind the shop.

They then graffitied every shop in the market with threats against government officials.

A nearby resident said he called the police but they failed to arrive at the scene until the morning, even though the militants stayed in the market for three hours.

One of the parlour’s owners, Aftab, said he had received warnings before the arson attack. Logar’s police chief, General Gullam Mostafa Mohseni, refused to comment.

A shop owner in the market said the ice-cream parlours sold alcohol and showed un-Islamic films to their customers.